70% Ethanol for Decontamination of CVL Exposed to Calcineurine Inhibitors Version 1.0, 1/9/2014

As cyclosporine and tacrolimus are both oil based medications and ethanol (70% alcohol) can dissolve oil, the investigators hypothesize that an alcohol lock instilled into the lumen of the CVL will be able to dissolve and leach out the oil based CNI adhering to the inside lumen of the CVL catheter, thus decontaminating it. The safety of using ethanol via CVL is already proven over the last many years. A study performed with neonates resulted in no adverse effects when using ethanol locks, proving that their use is safe for the pediatric population. Ethanol has been used as locks for disinfecting CVLs infected with a broad range of microorganisms in pediatrics. It has also been useful in treating catheter occlusions caused by Lipid formation. By placing a 70% ethanol lock for two hours in the contaminated lumen, it has shown to degrade the biofilm and fat formation allowing for further use of the CVL used 70 % ethanol locks and did not find any reductions in mechanical integrity of polyetherurethane or silicone catheters exposed for as long as 10 weeks. Also, no structural integrity complications have been found in the literature along with no evidence of systemic toxicity with the use of ethanol locks. A retrospective study on PICU patients who had received ethanol locks for 12-24 hours per lumen and a repeat lock when venous access was not limited, flushed 0.2-1mls of ethanol through the catheter at the end of the dwell instead of withdrawing the lock. Sixteen patients who received five daily ethanol lock treatments in succession, had liver enzymes measured and only two patients had mildly elevated transaminases, but these levels were not significant from their baseline levels. There were also no reports from the nurses of any patient complaints or side effects. The study stated that when larger volumes in which they classified as 2.3mls of ethanol are flushed through the central line, patients have reported flushing, light-headedness, headache, nausea and dyspnea. Only 2mls of ethanol will be administered in this study, and the ethanol lock will be withdrawn prior to drawing the levels. Therefore, no side effects are expected.